Beatty—The St. George, or Mummers’, Plays. 281 
delyvere he of ne enimy . thene wer they all so glad th’ 
twenty 1000 of me w*owte wyme & chyldre were fulwed anoo 
fyrst the kyng & al hys howshold w* hym . And thene he 
slowz the drago & bad hem to tye to hym oxon & drawe hym 
owt of the cyte th* tee savor of hym shnlde not greve hem . 
& then he bad the kyng bylde church’ fast in uche cornel 
of the lond & be lusty to here godd’ servyse & do honor to all 
me of hooly chyrche & evermoore have minde & copassion of 
all that wer nedy & pore 1 . 
Such is the pious legend, and in this form it appears in 
more than one place in Europe. Mr. Hartland, in his study of 
the Legend of Perseus, 2 finds it in Marchen 3 and Saga, 4 and 
traces a similar rescue story all over Eiurope, Asia and the 
bTorth of Africa. I find the story of St. George in a Danish 
ballad in which the saint is called our Lady’s Knight; and 
the.story is told in strict accord with the legend. 5 The story 
does not occur in any English popular ballad, so far as I know, 
but in several instances the saint is spoken of familiarly and as 
our Lady’s Knight. 6 I am not aware of any English folk-tale 
which embodies the legend; but a similar story is told in Ire¬ 
land, concerning Cfichullain and the Wooing of Elmer. 
But even though the story of St. George does not appear in 
Elngland either as popular ballad or folk-tale, there is no manner 
of doubt that it was very well known. There is, therefore, no 
need of presupposing a literary play of St. George in order 
to account for a St. George play among the people. It seems 
more likely that the saint may have stepped directly out of 
the church story into the popular play. 
1 Cited in “A New History of Gloucestershire,” Cirencester, printed 
by Samuel Rudder, 1779, p. 461, note. 
2 3 vols., 1894-1896. 
s Lc., vol. 1, p. 68. 
4 L. c., vol. 3, pp. 38-47. 
s Grundtvig, “Gamle Danske Volkeviser,” No. 103, vol. 2, pp. 559 ft. 
e See Child, “English and Scottish Popular Ballads’.” Illustrations to 
“Battle of Otterburne,” etc.—Index. I am perfectly well aware that 
the two opening poems of the third book of Percy’s “Reliques of An¬ 
cient Poetry” are “The Birth of St. George” and “St. George and the 
Dragon;” but these are late and are not popular in tone. 
